DIY SEM – Account Structure

Add some structure to your life

Often, little thought is put into the initial structure of an SEM campaign. Needless to say, we don’t build house without the help of plans or an architect. The same should apply for paid search accounts. Google and Yahoo are there to make money. They’re not going to come knocking like the local building inspector when you haven’t planned.

A strong, well planned account structure is key to the success of any paid search campaign. A solid account structure will make it easy to expand and identify new trends within your industry, apply budgets appropriately and assist you to take full advantage of search engine tools that reward well structured accounts.

5 Must Do’s for Paid Search Account Structure

1.Utilise match types

Google: Broad | Phrase | Exact | Negative Yahoo: Standard | Advanced | Negative

Broad match (advanced) is generally overused, and other match types generally overlooked. Best practice would suggest to use phrase and exact (standard) match for words you know work and utilise broad match to discover new ones.

2 Start small

Starting out? Don’t feel like you need to think of every possible keyword variation, this will happen over time. It’s best to start small, evaluate performance and build from there.
Established Search Accounts. Don’t be afraid to pause and delete. Use that money to test or increase the budgets on campaigns that do perform.

3.Create themes.

Themes should be focused around your text ad. If the keywords in an ad group don’t directly relate to an ad create another ad group. Themes can be categorised many ways – brand, type of product, size, high/low volume words. Always remember that the purpose of creating these themes is to maximise performance.

4.Keep ads & keyword groups relevant.

Generally speaking, more ad groups with fewer keywords are easier to manage. It also makes the task of removing poorly performing keywords a cinch. Ads should always be clear and relate directly to the search query. Highly relevant ads will increase the chances of a higher CTR%.

5. Keep your brand related keywords separate

Always have a separate campaign for brand related words. Brand keywords should be visible 100% of the time. Visibility is often limited by budget especially if brand words are competing against other more expensive terms. Always separate brand words from broader, more generic terms.

Why these tips really work.

We all know the search engines reward relevancy, in the form of lower CPCs and higher ad rank. A good SEM account structure ensures you tick all the boxes and if done right will mean everything is rightly relevant. A clear structure will allow you to measure apples to apples and help identify what’s working. Invest time into a good SEM account structure and you will see the rewards.